Tessa's Recipe Rundown...

Taste: Deeply sweet and I love adding sea salt for salted caramel. Homemade caramel sauce is no joke 1,000 times better than the store-bought variety.Texture: Lusciously thick and rich.Ease: Much easier than you probably think. If you’ve never made it before I’ve included everything you need to see and know to make a successful batch of caramel!Appearance: Who wouldn’t want to receive a jar of this liquid gold?!Pros: Fun and satisfying way to make a homemade goodie.Cons: Caramel can be a little tricky to clean. If you get any stubborn sugar or caramel stuck to your pot simply pour some water into it and bring it to a boil. It’ll dissolve anything!Would I make this again? I’ve made this recipe countless times.

When I was in culinary school we spent days on caramel, candies, and other sugar work. It’s all very detail-oriented and the smallest change in temperature can make a huge difference.

Don’t start making candy if you have to use the restroom, because you cannot walk away from the stove even for a few minutes! I learned that the hard way.

I included it as a sort of bonus recipe for readers who really wanted to amp up their ice cream sandwiches. Caramel isn’t just good with ice cream, it’s good on EVERYTHING. And knowing how to make caramel sauce is a trick that’ll always come in handy.

Seriously, this stuff is liquid gold and you’re going to want to drizzle it all over cheesecake, brownies, cinnamon rolls, apple slices, swirl it into your favorite baked good batters, or even a spoonful inside your morning coffee. You’ll probably just want to eat it straight up with a spoon. What’s your favorite way to indulge in caramel?

Crystallized caramel sauce can usually be rescued! Just melt the chunks of hardened caramel back into the sauce over a very low heat, then strain with a fine mesh strainer before using.

Below is a quick video showing you just how easy it is to make your own salted caramel.

If you make and enjoy this caramel sauce, be sure to snap a picture and share it on Instagram, tagging #handletheheat, so we can all see your creations!

This post was originally published in February 2014 and updated with new photos.

How to make

Homemade Caramel Sauce

How to Make Caramel Sauce WITHOUT a thermometer or any special equipment. Takes just 15 minutes and is SO much better than store-bought. Follow the video to see exactly how it's made.

Ingredients

1cup(200 grams) granulated sugar

5tablespoons(71 grams) unsalted butter

1/2cupplus 1 tablespoon heavy cream

1teaspoonFleur de Sel or flaky sea salt (optional)

Directions

In a medium dry saucepan, cook the sugar over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until the sugar melts and begins to turn a deep golden color, about 5 to 6 minutes. Turn off the heat and whisk in the butter until melted. Whisking constantly, gradually add the cream. Whisk until the mixture is smooth.

The caramel may seize. If clumps of sugar form, continue heating on low heat until they melt back into a smooth sauce. Remove from heat and pour through a fine strainer into a heatproof container. Stir in the salt if using. Let cool until warm and thick. Use or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Let come to room temperature or warm in the microwave before using.

Recipe Notes

If you make this recipe, be sure to snap a picture and share it on Instagram with #handletheheat so we can all see!

Recipe byTessa

About Tessa...

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)

This looks like one of the simpler caramel recipes I’ve seen (no candy thermometer, yay!). Is there any way to make it non-dairy? I know almond milk is not a great sub for heavy cream, but can it be done? I think I could use Earth Balance instead of the butter, it’s the heavy cream that has been my stumbling block (in part because I also have to avoid soy and corn, so most non-dairy creamers are a no-go.

I’ve never attempted to make a non-dairy caramel but you could certainly try. I can’t think of any particular reason why it wouldn’t work! If you do try it out please let me know how it goes, I’m sure other readers would love to know if it’s possible!

Concerning making a non-dairy version, I think that almond milk should work fine. I recently made a caramel sauce with whole milk instead of heavy cream. I don’t see why you couldn’t substitute almond milk in this step. If you can find it, califia makes a very creamy almond milk that’s really good.
I melted the butter and milk together in a sauce pan and then whisked the warm milk/butter into the caramel once it had reached a pale yellow/gold. Instead of turning the heat of, I left it on and thickened the sauce further. The caramelization continues in this step, which is why I added the milk/butter earlier than Tessa’s recipe asks for.

This sauce is fabulous and I love how easy it is! It will replace the difficult caramel filling I was making for the Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcake recipe from a Pinterest recipe. Your recipe tastes the same but is much easier. This caramel sauce was a huge hit on the Ice Cream Sundae Bar I had for my church dinner last night. Thank You and keep the great recipes coming!

Thanks so much for posting this!! The video was so helpful. I made a vegan version with Earth Balance and Almond Milk (I have a dairy allergy). My first batch was less thick than yours, but I am going to keep working with it. It definitely takes a few times to learn when to take the sugar off the heat without having an overcooked taste. But this method works better than all the others I have tried. I love that it doesn’t crystalize in the fridge. YUM!

I am loving your site and the recipes. I have not made any of them yet but I am collecting them for the day that I will. After all this time I am turning into my Mommy who read recipes and cookbooks the way most people read books. I inherited her cookbooks-some I kept and some I have passed to my children. All of my daughters have developed what my oldest calls “the family illness”-collecting books (all kinds) and kitchen gadgets.

Oh boy, I really need new glasses or something.
Everything was going well, up till the cream. I went a-whiskin’, and at first it seemed smooth, but as I finished pouring in the cream it seized. I followed your tips, got it all but a bit melted back together, then added my fleur de sel and it tasted amazing! Can’t wait to put it over some apple crisp a la mode!
Well I’m just rereading your recipe now, and NOW I see you only put HALF a cup of cream plus one tablespoon–I used a whole cup. *facepalm*
Oh well, it still tastes so good; it just probably won’t thicken much. I’ve got it for next time though. 😀

Hi Tessa I’m a big fan of yours as are all my weekly tasters ( husband, kids, brothers, and sister in law). I made this caramel sauce nondairy and it came out finger lickin good. I subbed marg for the butter and nondairy whip topping for the heavy cream. ( not very healthy, I know, but I make it up in other areas, like mime made organic baby food.) I was just wondering if it would be possible to freeze the sauce, I’m a big freezer person. Thank you again

Hi Tessa! I made this caramel sauce recipe yesterday for the salted caramel apple sheet cake, which was absolutely amazing. When I made the caramel sauce, it tasted bitter. I still used it for the cake because I figured with all the sugar in the glaze everything would work out fine. But, I want to know how I can make the sauce better. I’m guessing that I overcooked it, but I removed the sugar from the heat as soon as it was dissolved and there was nothing burnt in the pan. My sauce looked quite a bit darker than yours too. Thanks in advance for the help! You’re great!

Oh my! I just made this caramel sauce this afternoon. I’ve never had the process go so smoothly — both literally and figuratively! I can’t wait to serve this later this week on cheesecake when our family gets together for dinner! Thanks so much for making it so simple, Tessa. 🙂

It took two tries for me. I think the first time I cooked the sugar too long (thought it was supposed to be a deep brown :o\) and the sauce ended up having a weird burnt taste. The 2nd time I cooked the sugar just until it melted and was brown then took it off the heat, and it turned out just fine. So, lesson learned, be careful not to over cook the sugar!

As a tip, I keep a large bowl or casserole dish filled with ice water when I am melting sugar for a safety precaution. As you know, the heightened danger when cooking sugar is its ability to keep burning when it touches skin. By having the ice water available, I am able to immediately cool the sugar if it were to accidentally contact my skin. Thanks for all you do. Impressive website.

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